dovecot: SSL Cert question

well, I got dovecot working in a basic configuration... however, the wikis could only get me so far with the SSL connection. I have certs that I bought from RapidSSL and converted to a .pem so that dovecot could use them. However, here's the error that my logs picked up when trying to connect. I know there was a pass phrase on the cert when it was made, but how can I still use them... or will I only have the option of using the openssl home-built one?

Jan 10 04:00:01 mail dovecot: imap-login: Error: SSL private key file is password protected, but password isn't given
Jan 10 04:00:01 mail dovecot: imap-login: Fatal: Couldn't parse private ssl_key: error:0906A068:PEM routines:PEM_do_header:bad password read
Jan 10 04:00:01 mail dovecot: master: Error: service(imap-login): command startup failed, throttling for 60 secs

thanks!!

---------- Post added at 10:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:05 PM ----------

Well, I take it back.... from ssl.dovecotConfiguration.txt...

==================

Password protected key files
----------------------------

SSL key files may be password protected. There are two ways to provide Dovecot
with the password:

1. Starting Dovecot with 'dovecot -p' asks the password. It's not stored
anywhere, so this method prevents Dovecot from starting automatically at
startup.
2. 'ssl_key_password' setting. Note that 'dovecot.conf' is by default
world-readable, so you probably shouldn't place it there directly. Instead
you could store it in a different file, such as '/etc/dovecot-private.conf'
containing:

---%<---------------------------------------------------------------------
ssl_key_password = secret
---%<---------------------------------------------------------------------

and then use '!include_try /etc/dovecot-private.conf' in the main
'dovecot.conf'.